Opposition pours oil on flames of ALP election campaign

Cosima Marriner and Connie Levett

IN THE final week of the Queensland election campaign the Opposition is using the oil spill that devastated Moreton Island and will cost about $5 million to clean up, as a symbol of the Bligh Government's failings.

At the Liberal National Party's official election campaign launch in Brisbane yesterday, Liberal Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman said the spill, which was 10 times worse than originally thought, was an example of how the Labor Government was more concerned about appearances than results.

"Nothing demonstrates the failings of this Government more, nothing demonstrates their inability to govern, to lead, and their reliance on spin and media manipulation, than what is happening out 30 kilometres to our east on Moreton Island," Mr Newman said.

The Bligh Government now estimates 250,000 litres of bunker fuel leaked through two holes in the hull of the Pacific Adventurer; and 620 tonnes of ammonium nitrate remain unaccounted for after they were lost overboard in cyclonic seas on Wednesday. The bulk of the clean-up is expected to be completed by Saturday's election.

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Mr Newman said he contacted the Premier the day of the spill offering assistance, but was told the Government had it "under control". He said it wasn't until Saturday that cleaners were on the island, two thirds of them his council workers.

"As it is with Moreton Island, so it is with health, with education, with water, with public transport, with roads," he said.

"How then can we believe the Premier and the Australian Labor Party when they say they're the people who will protect jobs in an economic downturn."

However, the Queensland Conservation Council said it was "very happy from the start" with how the clean-up effort had been managed.

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"I feel sorry for anyone coming into witness protection," says the tearful daughter of police informer Terence Hodson after the State Coroner delivered an open finding into his murder and that of his wife Christine in 2004.